Sensor control apparatus provided in vehicle and method performed by the sensor control apparatus to reduce power consumption of sensors

Abstract

Provided is a method performed by a sensor control apparatus provided in a vehicle. The method includes: obtaining road driving information received through a wireless communication interface provided in the vehicle; selecting an object undetected area from a plurality of adjacent areas of the vehicle using the road driving information; obtaining sensing data from each of a plurality of sensors provided in the vehicle; selecting an object undetected area from the adjacent areas using the sensing data; determining an undetected area, which is selected as an object undetected area from the adjacent areas both when the road driving information is used and when the sensing data is used, as a power saving area; and outputting a control signal for controlling power saving target sensors, which are some of the sensors corresponding to the power saving area, to operate in a power saving mode.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A method of reducing power consumption of sensors, the method being performed by a sensor control apparatus provided in a vehicle and comprising:
 obtaining road driving information received through a wireless communication interface provided in the vehicle; 
 selecting a first set of object undetected areas among a plurality of adjacent areas of the vehicle based on the road driving information; 
 obtaining sensing data from each of a plurality of sensors provided in the vehicle; 
 selecting a second set of object undetected areas among the plurality of adjacent areas based on the sensing data; 
 designating, as a power saving area, an undetected area which belongs both to the first set of the object undetected areas and the second set of the object undetected areas; and 
 outputting a control signal for controlling power saving target sensors to operate in a power saving mode, wherein the power saving target sensors correspond to the power saving area. 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 monitoring the power saving area using the road driving information; and 
 automatically outputting a control signal for controlling the power saving target sensors to operate in a normal mode according to the monitoring result. 
 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 2 , wherein the monitoring of the power saving area comprises determining whether the power saving area has changed from an object undetected area to an object detected area, and the automatically outputting of the control signal for controlling the power saving target sensors to operate in the normal mode comprises automatically outputting a control signal for controlling the power saving target sensors to operate in the normal mode in response to the determination that the power saving area has changed to an object detected area. 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 determining whether the vehicle has started to change lanes; and 
 automatically outputting a control signal for controlling at least some of the power saving target sensors to operate in the normal mode based on determining that the vehicle has started to change lanes. 
 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the designating as the power saving area comprises:
 designating, as power saving areas, all areas which belong to at least one of the first set of object undetected areas and the second set of object, undetected areas, when a battery level of the vehicle is equal to or higher than a first level; and 
 designating, as power saving areas, the undetected area when the battery level of the vehicle is lower than a second level, 
 wherein the first level indicates the amount of residual power equal to or higher than the second level. 
 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the designating as the power saving area, the undetected area, comprises designating only a part of the undetected area as the power saving area using the road driving information. 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 6 , wherein the designating only a part of the undetected area as the power saving area comprises: obtaining a power-savable maximum traffic volume corresponding to the undetected area; and designating the undetected area as the power saving area only when the traffic volume around the vehicle according to traffic volume information in the road driving information is less than the power-savable maximum traffic volume. 
     
     
       8. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the outputting of the control signal comprises automatically setting an autonomous driving mode of the vehicle to a lane change suppression mode when the power saving area includes at least one of a left front area of the vehicle and a right front area of the vehicle. 
     
     
       9. The method of  claim 8 , wherein the automatically setting of the autonomous driving mode of the vehicle to the lane change suppression mode comprises automatically setting the autonomous driving mode of the vehicle to the lane change suppression mode when the power saving area includes at least one of a left front area, a right front area, a left area, and a right area. 
     
     
       10. A method of reducing power consumption of sensors, the method being performed by a sensor control apparatus provided in a vehicle and comprising:
 obtaining road driving information through a wireless communication interface provided in the vehicle; 
 determining a power saving required area among a plurality of adjacent areas of the vehicle using the road driving information; 
 obtaining sensing data from a plurality of sensors provided in the vehicle; 
 determining an object undetected area among the plurality of adjacent areas using the sensing data; 
 designating a power saving area based on the power saving required area and the object undetected area; and 
 outputting a control signal for controlling at least one sensor to operate in a power saving mode, wherein the at least one sensor corresponds to the power saving area. 
 
     
     
       11. The method of  claim 10 ; wherein the determining of the power saving required area comprises:
 obtaining a traffic volume corresponding to a location of the vehicle using the road driving information; and 
 determining the power saving required area such that the power saving required area decreases as the traffic volume increases. 
 
     
     
       12. The method of  claim 10 , wherein the determining of the power saving required area comprises:
 obtaining a traffic volume corresponding to a location of the vehicle using the road driving information; and 
 determining the power saving required area such that the power saving required area decreases as the traffic volume increases when the traffic volume is less than a congestion reference volume and determining all adjacent areas except for a front area as power saving required areas when the traffic volume is equal to or greater than the congestion reference volume. 
 
     
     
       13. The method of  claim 10 , wherein the determining of the power saving required area comprises:
 obtaining a traffic volume corresponding to a location of the vehicle using the road driving information; and 
 determining the power saving required area such that the power saving required area decreases as the traffic volume increases when the traffic volume is less than a congestion reference volume and determining all adjacent areas except for a front area, a left front area and a right front area as power saving required areas when the traffic volume is equal to or greater than the congestion reference volume.